


Senior Year

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-09-10
Updated: 2007-10-30
Packaged: 2019-01-19 20:28:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12417576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: Harry and Co. live in the US and attend a muggle high school.  Total AU.  HarryGinny, RonHermione





	1. Gotta Love Summer

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

**Disclaimer:** No, I do not own the characters that you recognize… But, I do own the characters you don’t recognize and the idea… like usual… Well, you know the drill…

** Senior Year **

**Chapter One: Gotta Love Summer**

The early morning sunlight filtered in through the window of the bedroom. It revealed a messy bedroom that was messy to a point that could only be achieved by a teenage boy. There were random articles of clothing flung across the floor, on the couch, the desk, even on the bed. The carpet on the hardwood floor was stained in several places. Papers were strewn haphazardly across the desk and some had fallen to the dirty floor. The small trash can in the corner looked like it had just erupted. Trash from yesterday mingled with trash from three months ago to create quite a scene. The bookshelves were cluttered with books of various sizes and subjects. Some lay on their sides while others stood upright, giving off a messy look. The walls were cluttered as well. Various posters crowded their limited space. They all revealed sports teams or bands. One of the larger posters was of a sports team that appeared to be in a humungous group hug… meaning that there were more than sixty people in the group hug. The words about the picture read “Boston Red Sox World Series Champions 2004”. Another poster had what appeared to be a space ship from far away, but when seen up close, it was hard to tell what it was. There were two words under the picture one read “Escape” and the other was “Journey”.

Underneath the comforter on the messy bed, there seemed to be a rather large lump. As the sun continued to filter into the room, the lump began to stir, for the sun seemed to be seeping into its eyes. After a few minutes of moving around and trying to find a position in which the sun did not penetrate into its eyes, the lump finally realized that it wasn’t going to fall back asleep. It threw the comforter off and blinked into the offending sun. 

What was revealed when the comforter was torn off was a skinny boy of about seventeen. He had extremely messy black hair that stuck up in odd places and looked like it hadn’t been combed… well, ever. Through the mass of jet-black hair, keen, emerald green eyes could be seen when he wasn’t blinking. The boy hastily grabbed a pair of round glasses on his bed-side table and thrust them onto his skinny nose. He sat up farther in bed and stretched.

The boy was wearing only a pair of boxers, which revealed his skinny, yet muscular form. Tan skin stretched over his muscles as he stretched to relieve his body of the kinks from sleep. Slowly, the boy climbed out of his bed. He stumbled over to his closet and grabbed a gray t-shirt from the floor. He began to walk out of his room while pulling on the t-shirt. It took him a while to open the door for all the clutter that was scattered around it. When he had successfully vacated his room, he closed his door and proceeded to walk down the hall towards the staircase. Behind him, on his door, there was another poster. This one had a very distinct space ship on it that looked like it was about to land. The solitary word under the picture read “Boston”.

As the boy stumbled groggily down the hallway, he stopped at one of the doors closer to the stairs. It was partially open. He pushed it open so that he could lean his head in. What he saw was a room quite similar to his own, what with the strewn clothes and all around messiness. The covers on the bed were open to reveal an empty, but slept in bed. Seeing that his godfather was awake, the boy continued his stumbling way all the way downstairs to the kitchen that was in a similar state to both of the rooms. 

Before he entered the kitchen, the boy smelled the bacon that was cooking and the salted eggs. He also smelled the pot of coffee that his god father had put on. Smelling these good smells, the boy felt his stomach growl and quickened his pace until he had entered the kitchen. 

Leaning on one of the counters on the right side of the stove was a tall, lean man of about 35. He had shoulder length, stringy black hair and fierce gray eyes. His tan skin contrasted with his dark hair and his mouth was always at the ready to break into a flirtatious smile. He was practically the definition of tall, dark, and handsome. He was leaning carelessly against the counter, reading the morning’s paper and sipping coffee from a dark blue mug that read “Baseball Hall of Fame”. 

When he heard his godson enter the kitchen, the man looked up and smiled. “’Morning, Harry!” he said cheerfully. Harry mumbled an incoherent reply and slumped down at the table. “Sleep well?” Harry mumbled another reply. His godfather just laughed at him. Harry grumbled at him. 

“Sorry, you’re just very amusing when you’re sleepy,” the man insisted, placing a plate full to the point of exploding with bacon and eggs. He placed a mug of coffee next to the plate and gave Harry a fork of questionable cleanliness. Harry mumbled a thank you and proceeded to shovel food into his mouth. He was done within five minutes. 

“Thanks, Sirius,” he said. 

“You better now?” Sirius asked, still incredibly amused.

“Yeah. Thanks,” Harry said, getting up to pile his plate with more food and refill his mug with coffee. 

“No problem,” Sirius said, smirking. “The Sox won.”

Harry looked at his godfather in disbelief.

“I’m serious!”

“I never had any doubts that you weren’t,” Harry said, smirking. 

“Oh shut up!”

“You walked right into that one, Sirius. Not my fault,” Harry said, smiling at his godfather in mock innocence.

Sirius rolled his eyes. “So, what are your plans for today?”

“I’m gonna meet Hermione at the bus stop and then we’re going to walk over to Ron’s. Mrs. Weasley is making egg salad for lunch,” Harry explained.

“Well then, I might just have to come over for lunch too,” Sirius said, jokingly.

“I’m sure that she would love to have you over. She worries about you,” Harry said.

“Molly Weasley worries about everything and everyone,” Sirius said, smiling. 

Harry smiled too. “Yeah, but that’s good when I have a godfather who neglects me,” he said, teasing Sirius. Harry had lived with Sirius since he was two years old, when his parents had died in a car crash. Sirius had been his dad, James’s, best friend and so, he was naturally Harry’s godfather. Sure, they had their moments, just like everyone, but they got along very well and had tons of fun together. 

Sirius stuck his tongue out at Harry.

“What are your plans for the day? Seeing Jessie today?” Harry asked, referring to Sirius’s long term girlfriend.

“Yeah. I’m going to meet her for lunch,” Sirius said.

“When are you going to pop the question?”

“It’s none of your business,” Sirius said, his face growing hot. He had been trying to ask Jessie to marry him for weeks. 

“O.K. I’ll see you… later. I’ll call you, O.K.?” Harry said, getting up and walking up the stairs to get changed. 

When he came back down, Sirius was doing the dishes. “See you,” Harry called as he slammed the door. He grabbed his bike and began to ride towards the bus stop to meet his friend.

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Harry rode his bike down the road that he and Sirius lived on, Hogsmeade Row. It was a sunny day in August and it was extremely humid. As soon as he had stepped outside, Harry had felt like he was entering a sauna. The air seemed to press in around him, almost suffocating him. As he rode his bike down the street, underneath the cool shade of the maple trees, Harry daydreamed. 

When he turned onto the sidewalk on Main Street, Harry was forced to snap out of his day dream because he was almost hit by a car. But, as soon as he had assured his safety on the sidewalk, he let his mind slip away as he neared downtown Lexington. 

The first thoughts that came to mind were of the new school year that he and his friends would soon be starting. They would be seniors in high school! They had to load up on APs and start thinking about which colleges they wanted to go to. Then, they had to apply to the colleges and start thinking about majors and career choices. Suffice to say that it was going to be a busy first semester. But, second semester, they didn’t have to worry anymore, just go to school and keep their grades up for sports. 

Ah, sports! Harry loved sports. He was a total jock and he was proud of it. Sports toned his body and made him feel good. Harry’s favorite sport was soccer. He and his best friend Ron were soccer nuts. During the soccer season, they ate slept and drank soccer. But, soccer season wasn’t until spring. Until then, they had to deal with cross country, indoor track, and their coed softball team. But, their softball team was not competitive in the least. They simply played for fun with their friends. Heck, even Hermione was on the team. And then, when they weren’t playing sports or being forced to study by Hermione, Ron and Harry were on the tech. crew for their school’s drama productions. 

Thinking about the drama productions made Harry think of Ginny. Ginny Weasley was amazing. She was a straight A student, she was a phenomenal singer, she was a graceful dancer, she could act extremely well, she was kind, she had street smarts, she was tough, she was wild, she was beautiful… she was Ron’s little sister. Harry sighed. Over the summer, he had become increasingly infatuated with Ginny Weasley. But, he didn’t know how to explain these feelings he was having towards his best friend’s little sister. It was more than just liking her, but certainly, it wasn’t love… was it? 

Harry almost ran into Hermione’s bus when it dawned on him that he was in love with Ginny Weasley.

His bike skidded off to the side, allowing Harry to narrowly avoid his death. He landed in a labyrinth of bike and limbs on the soft grass next to the road. 

As the passengers began to unload off of the public bus, Harry tried to regain control of his senses. When his head had stopped reeling and he was able to see things at a normal level of blurriness (his glasses had fallen off in the commotion), Harry found that he was trapped beneath his bike in a most painful way. A bar was digging into one knee while the chain was digging into his calf. A wheel was over his chest and the handle bars were sticking painfully into his lower abdomen. Harry groaned.

He heard footsteps and a soft laugh, then a sigh of resignation as the person who had come up next to him bent down to retrieve his glasses. He felt lean hands place his round glasses back on his nose and as everything became clear again, he saw a head full of bushy brown hair trying to help him out of his predicament.

“You’re really lucky that you didn’t break you glasses this time,” Hermione laughed as she helped him untangle himself from his damaged bike.

“What do you mean ‘this time’?” Harry asked indignantly. Hermione gave him a look as she pulled his bike up and reached a hand down to pull him up. “So I fall a lot, what can I say? I’m a guy,” Harry said, trying and failing to defend himself.

Hermione chuckled as she made sure that he was OK enough to walk by himself.

“And yes, I’m fine, thanks for asking,” Harry said sarcastically.

“As you said, you fall a lot. I know by now that your leg could be broken and you’d still be able to walk, if only out of stubbornness,” Hermione joked. Harry stuck his tongue out at his friend. “Oh, very mature, Harry,” Hermione joked.

“Hey, give me a break! I just fell off my bike.”

“Last time you fell off your bike, you managed to get up mere seconds after the fall in order to push me into the Lake, if you don’t recall,” Hermione said, staring him down.

Harry shrunk under her glare. “Sorry about that, ‘Mione. I was aiming for Ron.” Harry winced.

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Yes, I know! I was only joking!” she started laughing at how serious Harry had taken her.

Harry laughed too and pushed his friend gently. 

The two friends continued on in a comfortable silence on their way down the street that would eventually bring them to the Weasley’s driveway, which, after two miles, would bring them to the Burrow where the Weasleys resided.

“So, what were you thinking about that made you almost run into the bus? I mean, you’re thick, but you’re not usually _that_ thick,” Hermione joked, breaking the silence and causing Harry to push her again, this time a bit harder. 

“Nothing,” Harry said, embarrassed by his sudden revelation.

“Oh come on! You almost ran into a _bus_ for god’s sake! Something is definitely up!” Hermione said, exasperated with her friend’s sudden shyness. 

“Well, I just… discovered… that I’m… that I’m… I’m… in love,” Harry said, finally managing to finish his sentence. But, by the look in Hermione’s eyes, he knew that the conversation, however, was far from finished.

“Who?” Hermione asked, smirking at her friend.

Harry blushed. “I’m not telling.”

“Oh, don’t be silly! I already know who it is, you just need to say it out loud to finalize it.”

“You know?” Harry asked, his heartbeat speeding up considerably.

“Harry, everyone knows that you’ve been in love with yourself…” Hermione trailed off as Harry sighed with relief. 

Then, he realized what she was implying. “Hey! I’m not like that!”

“Mmm hmm… sure,” Hermione said, rolling her eyes. Soon, both friends were stumbling around, their persons racking with laughter. 

“God, Hermione! You’re awful!” Harry managed to gasp out when their laughter had subsided.

By now, the two friends had turned down what appeared to be a gravel driveway, and it did lead to several houses like a driveway would. But, after a while, the gravel would turn into a dirt road that would continue on for another mile or so before it reached the Weasley’s house. Their house, the Burrow, was the farthest one away from the road. It was slightly inconvenient to get to, but it was a beautiful, big old house that the Weasley family had occupied since before the American Revolution. Behind the Burrow, there was an expanse of woods that everyone called Fangorn Forest. And then, there was the battlefield of the first skirmish of the Revolutionary War, with the Rude Bridge visible in the distance. 

Once they had calmed down, Hermione looked at Harry curiously. “But, I think I do know who you are in love with,” she said, her voice suddenly serious.

Harry looked at her and realized that she wasn’t joking this time.

“Really?” he asked her, suddenly nervous that he was being way too obvious.

Hermione simply nodded.

“Who?”

“You need to say it for yourself. To make it real,” Hermione insisted. 

Harry sighed and looked around nervously, afraid that a Weasley was hidden somewhere in the trees that bordered the road they were traveling. “I’minlovewithGinny,” he said quickly, not looking at Hermione.

“What was that?”

“I’m in love with Ginny.”

“What?”

“I’M IN LOVE WITH GINNY WEASLEY!” Harry finally shouted out, and he had to admit, it felt good to just scream it. He smiled over at Hermione who gave him a satisfied look.

“Good,” was all she said.

“How did you know? Was I being that obvious?” Harry asked, suddenly nervous. “Does Ron know?” Harry asked, referring to his other best friend who was Ginny’s older brother and would probably pummel him if he so much as touched Ginny.

“Harry, relax! I just know because I’m one of your close friends and I’m unusually observant. I don’t think anyone else knows. Ron certainly doesn’t. He’s too thick,” Hermione trailed off. Unlike Harry’s crush, everyone was aware of the mutual affection between Ron and Hermione, except for Ron and Hermione. It was quite frustrating. 

Once Hermione had assured Harry that she was the only one who knew, the two friends continued on to the Burrow, discussing things like their upcoming senior year of high school and their coed softball team.

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The white knob of the shower squealed and creaked as a Ginny Weasley turned it. The warm water began to spurt out of the faucet, splashing the girl a bit. She clambered into the shower and sighed as she let the warm water run over her body. She lathered her long deep-red hair with lily-scented shampoo and then let the soap be washed off by the water that was spraying out of the showerhead. She continued her shower, and when she was done, she stepped out and grabbed the green towel that was waiting on the hook near the shower. She dried herself off and scrubbed her hair so that it was drier than it had been before. 

Ginny proceeded to lather her body with lotion so as to moisturize it. Then, she began to brush her teeth. 

As she covered her teeth in the minty toothpaste, Ginny thought about a certain black-haired, emerald-eyed boy for whom she was head over heels. 

Ginny had known Harry for as long as she could remember. Before his parents died, they had been close friends to her parents, for even thought Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were older than Mr. and Mrs. Potter had been, Mrs. Weasley had been pregnant at the same time as Mrs. Potter and they had gotten to know each other because they both used to go for walks around the Rude Bridge and the Old Manse. 

Harry and Ron had been born mere months apart and had been best friends their whole lives. After the Potters had died, the Weasleys had helped Sirius and Harry start their new life together. That had been when Harry and Ron were three and Ginny was two. Ginny had grown up with Harry like a seventh brother. But, recently, she had started having feelings about him that were not sisterly. And it wasn’t until a few days ago when Ginny had finally come to terms with the fact that her feelings for Harry were no longer crush material. 

But, this realization only made Ginny more upset because she knew that these feelings could never be returned. She had to keep telling herself that Harry saw her as a little sister and a friend, nothing more. But, it was so hard to do when she some near every day and was close to him and looked into his emerald eyes and saw his heart-breaking smile. It was all Ginny could do not to tell him she loved him every time she saw him. 

Ginny sighed as she spit out her toothpaste and wrapped her towel around her body so that she could walk across the hall to her bedroom. 

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Harry and Hermione opened the back door that led into the Burrow’s kitchen to find the Weasley twins sitting at the kitchen table looking mischievous and whispering about something or other. The twins looked up when they heard the door close to find a wary Harry (A/N: hahahahahaha that rhymes) and a suspicious Hermione. 

“Well good morning, surrogate Weasleys!” Fred said. Harry had known the twins for his whole life and could tell them apart. He wouldn’t be able to tell you why or how if you asked him, but he could definitely tell them apart. So could Hermione. No one knew how she could tell them apart, but she most certainly could. It unnerved the twins and added to the fact that, besides their mother and sister, Hermione was the only one they were afraid of. 

“’Morning Fred, George,” Harry said, taking a piece of bacon from George’s plate and chewing on it.

“Help yourself,” George said sarcastically.

“Thanks,” Harry replied with a cheeky smile.

“What are you two up to?” Hermione asked, trying to snatch the paper that the twins had been pouring over. 

“Oh no you don’t!” George said, holding it out of her grasp. 

“Be patient, ‘Mione,” Fred said.

“You’ll find out-“

“-soon enough,” Fred said, finishing his twins sentence. 

Hermione laughed and rolled her eyes as the twins stalked out of the room. 

“Obviously college has not matured them,” Hermione said. Fred and George had just returned from their freshmen year at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. 

Harry laughed and nodded his head in agreement. 

“Harry! Hermione! How are you, dears?” Mrs. Weasley said, coming into the kitchen with Ron following her, looking rather sleepy. 

“Good Morning Mrs. Weasley,” Harry and Hermione said, smiling and accepting her bone crushing hugs. 

“Here. Sit down and have some breakfast.”

“Thanks Mrs. Weasley, but I already ate…” Hermione was cut off when a large plate of steaming eggs and bacon was pushed under her nose. Hermione was too polite to refuse, so she proceeded to eat. Harry was always hungry, so he didn’t mind having a second breakfast. Ron sat at the table groggily until his food was placed before him. Then, he seemed to come alive as he began shoveling food into his mouth. 

After a while, Harry excused himself, because he had to use the bathroom. He walked up the familiar steps and into the hall.

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Ginny stepped out of the steamy bathroom and let the cool air of the hallway engulf her, cooling her warm body. After a moment of letting the sweet, cool air sweep over her, she opened her eyes and was about to walk across the hall and into her bedroom when she heard footsteps on the stairs. Stupidly, she assumed it was one of her brothers and waited to give whoever it was the shock of their life. 

However, the person who came up the stairs was not the only one who was shocked. Ginny nearly fell down when she saw that it was Harry who was coming up the stairs. 

Harry stopped when he saw Ginny in nothing more than a towel that clung to her wet body, with her wet hair falling down her back and her face. However, he quickly regained composure, as did Ginny. This was one of the reasons their relationship had not progressed, they were both too stubborn. 

“Wow Gin. I didn’t know you were like that,” Harry said, smirking at her. 

Ginny almost blanched when he used her nickname, but quickly recovered. “Like what?” Well, maybe not so much.

“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head and laughing at her, making her angry at him.

“Oh shut up, Harry. You’re the one who’s not even averting your eyes and is just standing there staring at me while I’m indecently clothed.”

“Gin, I’ve known you forever and you’re basically like a sister to me. I really don’t think it matters.” It took all of Harry’s will to say this with a smile on his face.

Ginny tried not to feel sad and angry when he called her his sister. Instead, she brushed past him, making sure that their bodies touched, and proceeded into her room. Hey, she could still try to seduce him, right?

Harry almost passed out when her body brushed up against his. He shook it off and walked into the bathroom. 

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_Okay!  So, I wasn’t sure where I should end the first chapter and I decided that this was as good a place as any!  I hope that you guys don’t think that the characters were too OOC, but this is how I pictured them…  Just to get the setting straight, it takes place in the modern day (2007) in Concord, Massachusetts.  I decided not to write about a British school because I can’t and I decided to write about I public school because I can.  In short, they are attending an American public school because that is what I attend and I can pretend that I know what I’m writing about…  Hope you guys liked it!!_

_Please review!!_

_Jess_                   

 


	2. Journey to Morse's Pond

 

**Disclaimer:** I am _SAD_ that _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_ is coming out… do you really think that I’m J.K. Rowling?  

  **Senior Year**

** **

_Ginny tried not to feel sad and angry when he called her his sister. Instead, she brushed past him, making sure that their bodies touched, and proceeded into her room. Hey, she could still try to seduce him, right?_

_Harry almost passed out when her body brushed up against his. He shook it off and walked into the bathroom. ****_

** **

**Chapter Two: Journey to Morse’s Pond**

Ginny rushed into her room and all but slammed the door behind her. She took several deep, calming breaths and allowed herself to calm down before she thought about what had happened. 

Harry had seen her in nothing but a towel. There had been nothing but the small green towel she now clutched desperately to her body between her body and Harry’s eyes. Ginny’s skin turned a nice shade of Weasley red when she thought of what might have happened if her towel had slipped… She couldn’t even think about it. She was mortified beyond belief. The man she was in love with had just stood before her while she clutched a rather small towel to her scrawny body. Ginny struggled to convince herself not to stay in her room for the rest of her life out of pure mortification. 

Then, and only then, did she ponder what Harry had said to her. He had said, basically, that he would always see her as a little sister and she would never be more… or less, which was good, right? Oh, who was she kidding? It was awful! Sister was a step down from friend. If he saw her as a sister, there was no chance in Hell that he would ever love her! 

Oh! The bittersweet feelings that came with unrequited love! 

Had she known Harry any less, Ginny would have tried to impress him in order to get him to like her. But, she knew that Harry hated fake girls. He liked girls who were themselves around him, and that was all she had ever been… but, apparently, that wasn’t enough. Ginny sighed and began to get ready. She pulled on some underwear and a bra. Then, she slipped on a Red Sox t-shirt and a pair of long jean shorts. Hey, if she was going to be herself, why not dress like herself? She left her long red hair down so that it could air-dry, put in a pair of hoop earrings, slipped on her watch, and checked the mirror. She grimaced at her reflection. Her pale skin was marred by freckles and had several blotches from the hot shower. Her wet hair looked messy as it clung to the sides of her head, instead of falling naturally. Oh well, there was nothing to be done for it. Ginny sighed, then opened her door and began to prance downstairs for breakfast in bare feet. 

As she rounded the corner that was halfway down the stairs, Ginny caught sight of Harry. The platform that she was on was positioned so that she could see him, but he couldn’t see her. She looked at him and felt her heart leap. 

Harry was wearing just a t-shirt and shorts, but his shirt showed how much good soccer did him. His hair was messy as always and his round glasses were placed cutely on the tip of his skinny nose. His emerald eyes shone behind the iron frames. They sparkled as he laughed at something the twins had said.

Oh how Ginny would love to lose herself in the emerald seas, to run her hands through his messy black hair, to feel his muscles under her hands…

Ginny shook herself and managed to regain control of her emotions, for the moment. She decided it was time to make her entrance. She started to walk down the stairs and she tried to so it as she normally would, the only thing was, she could feel Harry’s eyes on her. 

As soon as Ginny came into view, Harry looked up. She was wearing a t-shirt and shorts and her wet hair hung down her back, but she looked beautiful to Harry. She had matured since she had started high school. Nature had blessed her with a curvy figure. Ginny was not one of those stick girls and she had a stomach, but that was one of the many things Harry loved about her. She ate, yet she was still healthy. She was by no means fat or even chubby, just sturdy and healthy. But she also had a delicate beauty that surrounded her whole figure. 

As she walked down the stairs, Harry saw a blush rising in her cheeks and thought it was the cutest thing. It was only then that he realized that he was staring. He looked around quickly and was relieved to see that no one had noticed how closely he had been watching the youngest Weasley. She came to the table and sat at the only open seat, which happened to be across from Harry, and helped herself to some eggs and toast. 

“Harry, mate! Wanna go kick the soccer ball around?”

Harry was pulled out of his inspection of Ginny when Ron asked him to do what he loved. Why, then, was he so reluctant to go? “Yeah, sure,” he managed, tearing his eyes away from Ginny. 

Ginny immediately felt herself relax as the boys (Harry, Ron, Fred, and George) went out to the backyard to play soccer. Now, it was only Hermione and Ginny in the kitchen because Mrs. Weasley had gone up to the attic for when Charlie came to stay later that week. 

Hermione immediately moved so that she was sitting next to Ginny. The two friends sat in silence for a couple minutes as Ginny swirled her fork in her half-eaten eggs. 

“Oh, for God’s sake! Just eat them already!” Hermione said, making Ginny jump. 

“Sorry, Herms, I just have a lot on my mind,” Ginny said feebly. 

Hermione softened. “Like what?” she asked subtly… or not. 

“I love Harry,” Ginny blurted out. Hermione sighed. This was getting ridiculous. 

“What?” Ginny asked, disconcerted by Hermione’s apparent annoyance. 

“N- nothing!” Hermione said, smiling sweetly to cover up her guilt. Ginny and Hermione were like sisters; they told each other everything. Hermione felt a twinge in her conscience when she didn’t tell Ginny the truth. Well, she supposed that she wasn’t exactly lying… And, she knew that she’d feel guilty, on Harry’s behalf, if she told Ginny. With these condolences, Hermione put on her war face and decided she was just going to have to give little pushes to help her friends get together. Then, a thought struck her.

“Jeez. You sure got over Dean fast,” Hermione said, meaning it as a joke, but realizing too late that Ginny didn’t see it as a joke. 

Ginny blinked. Oh, yeah! Dean. She had totally forgotten about him. She was a horrible person! She and Dean had just broken up before the summer holiday and she had already forgotten about him? Ginny gave Hermione a hopeless look, and then proceeded to bang her head repeatedly on the kitchen table. Hermione stared at her friend for a while, then she seemed to realize that if Ginny continued, she’d give herself brain damage. 

“Stop! Stop! Ginny, STOP!” she said, pulling Ginny’s head up and slapping her. “Snap out of it!”

Ginny looked shocked, then her eyes began to water with the force of the slap. “Ow.”

“Sorry! Sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry!” Hermione said, making random, jerky movement to show that she was clueless as to what to do and that her calm demeanor was tumbling down around her. 

“Hermione, it’s OK. I deserved it,” Ginny said, meaning it. She had gone and fallen in love mere weeks after braking up with Dean. Actually, if she had admitted it to herself, she would have seen that she had been in love with Harry even when she had been dating Dean. She sure thought she was a horrible person. 

“No, no you didn’t,” Hermione insisted, feeling awful about slapping her friend. Sure, Ginny was being a bit silly, but she was confused and sad and angry and she needed a friend who didn’t abuse her.

“Yes I did,” Ginny insisted, then she proceeded to burst into tears. Hermione scooted over and hugged her friend, letting Ginny cry into her shoulder and patting her back to sooth her. 

Ginny didn’t know what had come over her. She just knew that she had been holding in her feelings for Harry since sixth grade and that it felt good to just let all that stress out. She proceeded to tell this to Hermione. The older girl just listened and murmured soothing words into her friend’s ear as Ginny slowly calmed herself. 

When Ginny had finished, she looked up at Hermione. The older girl smiled at her friend in a reassuring way. Ginny gave a slight smile back and proceeded to eat the rest of her breakfast. 

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About and hour and a half later, the boys came in, covered in mud, sweat and blood. When she saw the blood, Hermione made a fuss about how they had to be more careful. Then, after making sure that their cuts were thoroughly disinfected, she sent them up to wash off. Ginny chuckled slightly to herself. Hermione was by no means a shrimp, but she was only 5’5”, whereas the boys were all over six feet. Seeing her shouting at them and subduing them with a simple glare up at them tickled Ginny the right way. 

When Hermione turned around after she was sure that all four boys were upstairs and cleaning off, she turned around and found Ginny gasping with laughter. Hermione glared at her. All of her friends made fun of her for her maternal actions. _Some friends they are!_ Hermione huffed to herself. 

“All right, all right! You’ve had your fun! Now, get up,” she all but growled at Ginny. Ginny tried her best to sober up. It was extremely difficult with Hermione standing over her, looking like a pissed-off mother. 

“S-Sorry, Hermione!” she managed to gasp out. “You should see yourself… they’re so afraid of you!”

“As they should be!” Hermione sniffed indignantly.

“Why?”

Hermione smiled secretively. “See if I tell you…” she said, a mischievous glint infecting her eyes. 

“What? Hermione!” Ginny said, suddenly exasperated. 

“C’mon! Let’s go change into bathing suits! We’re going swimming!” Hermione said, evading Ginny’s question as she dragged her friend up to her feet, pulling her up the rickety, winding stairs that led to the top floors of the Burrow. 

“We’re swimming?” Ginny asked, realizing that she must have been laughing too hard when this information was exchanged. Hermione just shook her head and led the way up to Ginny’s room. 

“Which suit am I allowed to borrow?” she asked Ginny, motioning to the clump of about eight bathing suits that lay in Ginny’s bathroom. 

“Whatever,” Ginny said, not really caring. “Not the green one, though.”

Hermione looked up in mock horror. “As if _I_ would even _dare_ to touch your green bathing suit!” She cracked a smile at her friend and Ginny swatted her away playfully. 

Hermione selected a black bathing suit and skipped into Ginny’s bathroom. Ginny sighed and began to slip on her green bathing suit. So, they were going swimming? Ginny loved going swimming… just, not with Harry there. Sure, she loved to look at him, but she certainly didn’t want him looking at her. 

“Hurry up, slow poke!” Hermione said, hopping out of the bathroom. She looked as if nothing had changed, but she had just put her suit on under her clothes. Ginny rolled her eyes at her friend, making sure Hermione saw. “Ugh! You’re so slow!! I’ll go call Ella, Lis, and Rose. Try to be a bit faster than the snails in your garden! We’re going to Morse’s Pond,” Hermione said, rushing down to call Ginny’s other three friends. 

Ginny smiled when she heard her brother shout to ask Hermione who she was calling. Hermione’s responding yell told Ginny what she already knew. Then, Ron bellowed back that Hermione should call Neville, Luna, Seamus, Dean, Lavender, and the Patil twins while she was at it. Then, George yelled down to tell Hermione to call Lee Jordan. Fred added on to tell everyone to bring food. 

In response, Hermione let out a string of curses that basically said, “I’m not your fucking servant!” There was silence and Ginny could almost picture the boys all holding their breath. Then, Hermione shouted back that she would call everyone, but the boys owed her. Ginny laughed when she heard the boys’ audible groan and Hermione’s snickering from downstairs. Noise traveled easily at the Burrow.

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About a half and hour later, the four Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione were piled into the Weasley’s old station wagon that was about fifty years old and was reserved for all of the Weasley kids to use. Since only Ron and Ginny were at home, during the school year at least, it was pretty good for them because they hung out with a lot of the same people. George had insisted on driving because he had just gotten his driver’s license back after having it taken away for reckless driving. Everyone protested, but he got into the driver’s seat first and would not budge. Fred, being the supportive twin that he was, let George be and grabbed the front passenger seat, leaving Ginny, Hermione, Ron, and Harry to squish into the back. This was extremely awkward considering that there were two seventeen year old boys and their crushes crammed into a space meant for three normally sized people who were comfortable with each other. 

After the awkwardness had somewhat dissipated in the back of the maroon station wagon, the car erupted into a blast of shouting and arguing because everyone disagreed with what music to listen to. They finally decided on some Boston. It was one of the two CDs in the car. As the electric guitar blared through the crummy car speakers nearly deafening the six teenagers, three different conversations began to take place, which meant a lot of shouting over each other and yelling at each other to shut up and tons of smacking on the back of heads. 

Then, George decided that he was going to use his current position, along with the element of surprise, to get everyone to shut up. Hey, it was the guitar solo in _Rock and Roll Band_. Who wouldn’t want quiet? 

“Guys! Shut up! I can’t concentrate on my driving!” he shouted over everyone else. There was a reason why everyone claimed George would make an excellent drill sergeant. Everyone shut up to stare at him in shock and confusion. “Thank you,” he said, bobbing his head slightly to the guitar music that was clear now that everyone was silent. 

The car managed to remain silent, other than the rock music, until they reached Morse’s Pond. George pulled into a parking space. The parking lot was crowded. The Pond usually got crowded over the summer, especially in August. But, the small, make-shift beach around the clear water was big enough to fit all the people who could fit into the parking lot. Luckily.

George began to climb out of the car when he realized that no one was moving. “What?” he asked, silently daring them to insult his driving skills. 

Everyone was quiet for a moment as they weighed their options. Then, they all decided they rather liked being alive. “Nothing.”

“That’s what I thought,” George all but growled. He got all the way out of the car and everyone followed his lead. Fred popped the CD out of the car and Ginny got the towels. Harry grabbed the portable boom-boxthat ran on batteries and Hermione and Ron each grabbed a cooler filled with food. They began to trudge towards the beach, looking for their friends. 

The beach was small enough that once they got to it, it became apparent that they were the first of their friends to arrive. They chose a rather secluded part of the beach that was under a large maple tree. Secluded meaning, of course, that there were only about ten people around them, rather than the normal fifteen. Ginny spread out the blanket they had brought and they all set up, like the good responsible kids they are. Yeah right! The boys dropped their stuff unceremoniously on the ground, ripped their t-shirts off and sprinted into the water. 

Hermione and Ginny exchanged a look before sighing and setting everything up neatly, knowing full well that it would just get messy again when the boys returned. As they were setting up, three of their other friends arrived. Elethera, Rosalie, and Lisbeth were in Ginny’s grade and had been Ginny’s best friends since sixth grade. At that time, Hermione had been best friends with Harry and Ron. Ginny and Hermione had gotten along, but they had never been really good friends. Then, somewhere between seventh and eighth grade, puberty had hit and Hermione had needed girlfriends, because there are some things that you just can’t discuss with your guy friends. Especially when you’re developing a crush on one. So, naturally, Hermione turned to her closest girl friend. Her best friend’s little sister who was only a year younger. Ginny and Hermione had become fast friends and Hermione had also become very close to Ginny’s three other friends. 

“Hey Gin, Herms!” Rosalie said, dropping her bag onto the sand and plopping onto the blanket, messing it up. 

Ginny rolled her eyes. “Hey Rose,” she said, shaking her head. Rosalie had cream-in-your-coffee skin and shoulder length black hair that had red highlights in it. Her dark brown eyes sparkled in her pretty face. She was average height, but she was extremely skinny. Rosalie loved to have fun and was reckless sometimes. She didn’t care at all what others thought of her, which made her that much more appealing. 

“Hello, loves,” Elethera said, plopping down next to Rosalie and lying down on her back. Rosalie quickly leaned her head on her stomach. Elethera shoved her off, but Rosalie just kept putting her head on. Elethera seemed to decide it wasn’t worth it and let Rosalie’s head alone. 

“Hey Ells,” Ginny and Hermione said. Elethera was very pale, but unlike Ginny, she had no freckles. Ginny always found herself a bit jealous of Ella’s skin. It was almost flawless. Her black hair contrasted shockingly with her ivory skin. The last three inches or so of long black hair were a bright turquoise color that was almost the exact same color as her eyes. She was tall and muscular, definitely bigger than Rosalie. She was exactly like Rosalie when it came to not caring what others thought. That was one of the reasons they were such good friends. They had known each other for ages and were closer than sisters. 

Because Rose and Ella were extremely close, Ginny and Lisbeth had become close as well. “Hey Lis,” Ginny said, smiling at her other friend. Lisbeth grinned back and shrugged off her bag, going over to help Ginny. Lisbeth was the tallest of the four. She was well built and busty, which made her a bit self conscious. Her short light brown hair framed her delicate face. Kelp green eyes sparkled beneath long eyelashes. 

“Hey Gin, Herms. You guys need help?” She asked. 

“I think we’re good. Thanks, Lis,” Hermione said, plopping down next to Rosalie and Ella, who were now having a bit of a skirmish on the blanket. Hermione rolled her eyes. 

“Race ya to the water!” Rosalie said, hopping up, stripping down to her purple bathing suit, and racing towards the Lake. Ella growled and jumped up, following her friend’s example. She took off running in her turquoise suit and tackled Rosalie into the water. They fell, laughing, and when they emerged, the proceeded to have a war in the water. Ginny, Hermione, and Lisbeth watched for a while in amusement. 

When they returned to their towel, they found two more t-shirts that had been dumped there and their friends Lavender Brown and Parvati and Padma Patil. 

“Hey girls,” Lavender said lightly, smiling at them. 

“Hey,” Hermione, Lisbeth, and Ginny replied. Lavender, Parvati, and Padma were all wearing extremely tight shorts and tank tops over their bathing suits. Parvati removed her tank top to reveal her perfect stomach. She lay down next to Ginny and closed her eyes. 

Soon after, Lee Jordan arrived and joined the boys, Rosalie, and Ella in the water. Then, Neville and Luna arrived. Neville hopped into the water as well and Luna sat on the blanket with the others. 

After a while, Ella came and pounced on Ginny, dragging her into the water. Ginny dragged Lisbeth with her and Lisbeth dragged Hermione with her. Luna did not even have a bathing suit and the other girls were all sunbathing. So, Hermione, being Hermione, decided to drag Padma with her. Padma dragged her sister and Parvati dragged Lavender. Soon, all of the girls were in the water, splashing and playing. 

When the girls all came in, the boys stopped fooling around to watch them. Lavender and Dean had been dating for abut a month and Lisbeth and Seamus were coming up on their five-month anniversary. Neville and Luna were basically a couple. But, the others were all single. However, Harry and Ron both had girls they were staring at, as well. 

The girls didn’t seem to notice the boys’ gawking (and they managed to do some of their own). After the boys had gotten a hold of themselves, they decided to sneak up on their friends. They tackled the girls, taking them by surprise, and soon the whole group was in an all out water fight, with no clear teams. 

When everyone began to get tired, they all decided to go eat the food they had brought for lunch. Everyone rushed towards the blanket that Luna was guarding faithfully to grab their towels and start chowing down. 

Not because they didn’t like each other, but rather as a course of habit, they split up into three groups based on age, with the exception of Lisbeth, Seamus, Neville and Hermione. Lisbeth and Seamus were basically a group by themselves, so they didn’t really count. Ginny, Hermione, Ella, Rosalie, Neville, and Luna all sat together while Ron, Harry, Dean, Lavender, Padma, and Parvati all sat together. Fred, George, and Lee kept to themselves, talking about college and the like. 

“You guys ready to be Seniors?” Dean asked everyone. They all nodded with enthusiasm. 

“Are you kidding? Seniors are finished early and after first semester, you don’t even have to worry about your grades anymore!” Ron said, drawing nods from everyone again. None of them would admit it out loud, but under all the excitement, there was also fear. They were going to leave their comfort zones and go off to college. Secretly, they were all afraid of what the new setting would bring… and of even getting into college. Sure, this year was going to be great. It was, after all, Senior year. But, it was also going to be stressful and, frankly, scary. 

A very different conversation was taking place between Hermione, Ginny, Ella, and Rose. Luna and Neville had left already because Neville had to be home for his grandmother. 

“YOU WHAT?” Ella shouted at Ginny. 

“Not so loud, if you don’t mind,” Ginny said, cringing. She had taken the step and told Ella and Rose about her not-crush on Harry. And now, they wouldn’t shut up. 

“Sorry,” Ella said. “But, Ginny! This is huge! How long has this been going on?” she demanded, glaring at her friend.

“A long time,” Ginny mumbled.

“That doesn’t matter,” Rose cut in. “How are you going to get him?” 

Hermione struggled not to blurt out that she already had him where she wanted him. Her friends looked at her when she made a small choking sound. “Sorry,” she said, grabbing her soda can discretely. “Choked on the soda.” They rolled their eyes and resumed their conversation. 

“I don’t think that I’ll be able to,” Ginny said weakly, knowing that she was asking for a lecture from Rose. 

“Nonsense!” Ella said. “Of course you will!”

“Ginny, you’re a beautiful, smart, talented, kind, amazing girl. If you can’t get a guy, then I don’t know who can,” Rose said, giving Ginny a pointed look. 

“Yeah, yeah. I know,” Ginny said rolling her eyes. She had heard the lecture from Rose enough times to know not to protest. But, she was really grateful that her friends supported her this way. It made her feel special, even if they had to say that stuff because they were her friends. 

“We’ll help you,” Ella said, flicking her turquoise-tipped hair over her shoulder. 

“Of course we will… but, later,” Rose said, glancing down at her watch. “I had to pick up my brother two minutes ago and it takes ten to get over to Jack’s house,” she said, referring to her brother’s friend’s house. She groaned and struggled to her feet after pushing Ella off of her. Ella jumped up and ran over to Lisbeth and Seamus. She seemed to take some sort of maniacal pleasure in breaking up make-out sessions. 

“Lissie! We got to go!” she shouted, right next to her friend’s ear. 

“I’ll give her a ride home, thanks,” Seamus said, smiling up at Ella. 

“Okee dokee!” Ella said, skipping back. She kissed Ginny and Hermione quickly goodbye and then skipped to meet up with Rose, who was already trudging back to the car. 

Ginny couldn’t help but laugh. Her friends were so odd and… out there. And, she loved them for it. She picked up her cell phone from the blanket and flipped it open. The time surprised her. 5:30. It was getting late. Especially considering her mum would be expecting them ready for dinner at 6:30 and Ginny was dying to take a shower. Especially if Harry was staying for dinner, which she did not doubt for a moment. 

She walked over to Fred and George to tell them it was time to go. 

“George! Let’s go!” she shouted at him as he threw a football to Fred. 

“Okay, munchkin,” he said, turning and winking at her. Ginny fumed. She hated it when he called her that. It made her feel like a little kid. She decided to let it drop, though, because if she made a fuss, George would refuse to drive her home. 

She went over to Ron and Harry to tell them to go too. Then, she returned to Hermione and helped her friends pack up. 

Twenty minute later, Ginny found herself squished into the back of the car again. And, once again, it was extremely awkward. But, to her immense relief, the awkwardness seemed to dissipate when the question of music came up again. All in all, the ride was almost an exact repeat of the ride over except this time, they listened to the Journey CD. 

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            _Okee dokee!!! That was chapter two!!!!  I hoped you all liked it!!  I sure had fun writing it!!!  Thanks for the reviews that I got!!!  If you’re reading and not reviewing, you know that I’ll update faster if I think more people will enjoy it!!!!_

_By the way, I obviously don’t own Journey or Boston or the song_ Rock and Roll Band.  _I would love to, but I don’t…_

_Last time, like the idiot I am, I forgot to give my beta credit!!!! I’m sorry, Lissie!!!! I lurve you!!!!  So, thanks to my beta, whose pen name is_ corned-beef-famine _for reasons that shall only be known by our lunch group… haha!_

_So, I decided that they’re gonna be graduating in 2007… so, technically, this part of the story takes place in 2006.  You’ll see why I want them to graduate in 2007, but if you go to a high school, chances are you can guess because I bet that almost EVERY senior class chose the same theme for their class… Because they’re all SO original…_

_Please tell me your thoughts!!!! They make a difference!!_

_Jess_


	3. The First Day of School

**Disclaimer:** Dude, I’m not even British…

** Senior Year **

**Chapter Three: The First Day of School**

From across the room, an annoying beeping noise descended on Harry’s ears. It was frantic to get him up, beeping in an annoying, quick rhythm. He tried to escape the noise by burrowing farther under his covers but the beeping just got louder and more frantic, penetrating the careful shield he had tried to hide behind. He groaned loudly and rolled slowly out from under his covers. He tried to get out of his bed, but fell down in the process. It was hard to tell whether it was because he was tired or because of the clump of clothes and his soccer cleats that made him fall. He groaned again, this time in pain and scrambled to his feet as his alarm’s beeping became louder and so fast that he thought the poor machine would explode. He slammed his hand down on the machine, not really looking where the off button was. Luckily, the machine stopped making noise, though Harry wasn’t sure if it was because he had hit the off button or if it was because he had broken the damn thing. He grunted and proceeded to lumber out of his room to the bathroom across the hall. 

About ten minutes later, Harry was walking down his hallway towards his godfather’s bedroom, teeth brushed and self dressed. Well, relatively speaking, at least. He was wearing a pair of baggy jeans and a t-shirt and his hair wasn’t brushed. He opened Sirius’s door to find his godfather sprawled across his bed. Harry and Sirius had worked out a routine: Harry got up, woke up Sirius the first time, went down to make the coffee/breakfast, woke up Sirius the second time, ate his breakfast and prepared Sirius’s, and woke up Sirius a third and final time before he left for school. 

“SIRIUS!” Harry shouted in his godfather’s ear. 

“I’m up!” Sirius claimed, pulling the covers over his head again. Harry laughed and rolled his eyes at the familiarity. A new year was starting. 

Twenty minutes later, Harry was walking out the door to get in Hermione’s car as she pulled up outside his house. Her car looked really nice, seeing as she had just gotten it out of the shop, which was why she had had to ride the bus the whole previous week. 

“Hey, Herms. Ready for our last first day of school? In high school, I mean…” Harry asked as he slid into the passenger seat, throwing his relatively empty backpack into the back seat and pulling his seatbelt on. 

“Not really,” Hermione said absently, starting up her old VW again and pulling out of Harry and Sirius’s driveway. Hermione was the kind of person who enjoyed learning. Harry still marveled that he and Ron were such good friends with a bookworm like Hermione. They were total jocks. He supposed that they had been friends ever since he and Ron had saved Hermione from the evil dog across the street from their elementary school playground. Since then, the three had been great friends. They had other friends, but they had stuck with each other. And now, Ron and Hermione were ready to take the next step in their relationship and move away from “just friends”. 

Harry looked over at his friend. Her frizzy light brown hair had honey-colored streaks in it from the summer. It blew in the wind from her open window. Since middle school, Hermione had learned how to love her curls and her hair had benefited greatly. Also, her braces had made her teeth straighter and she had grown out of her freckles. She had not lost her skinny frame, but a woman’s body had inhabited it instead of a young girl’s. She was beautiful, but Harry would never feel any love for her except as a friend. And, he did love her that way. 

Hermione caught him looking at her. “What?” she asked, smiling at him. 

“We’ve really grown up, haven’t we?” Harry asked, grinning at her. 

She grinned back at him. “You mean since third grade? I should certainly hope so.” She laughed, but she really appreciated his comment. She was going to miss her boys when they separated for college the next year. No matter their differences, they were her best friends. 

“Come on, ‘Mione! We’re graduating! We’re the class of 2007!!!” Harry said giddily, looking forward to his silly senior privileges. 

“Yes, “sly spies”,” Hermione said, rolling her eyes at their class’s theme. 

“Aw, come on! Have a _little_ school spirit. At least for senior year. You managed to get through the other three years with no school spirit and now you have to show at least a little.”

“I showed school spirit!”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“When?”

She stopped to think and struggle to think of something. 

“Ha! I win!” Harry claimed, a cocky grin spreading across his face. 

“Aha! Freshman year! I went to the homecoming football game!” Hermione exclaimed, a triumphant look stealing across her eyes. 

“Only because Ron and I dragged you there. You spent half of the game reading,” Harry said, rolling his eyes in exasperation. 

“I didn’t understand the game,” Hermione said defensively. 

“Ron and I were trying to explain it to you!” Harry exclaimed.

“Well, you two are horrible teachers.” She grinned at him. He stuck his tongue out at her. 

By this time, they had pulled up to the school’s parking lot. Hermione pulled out her senior pass and stuck it onto her dash board, pulling into her spot. 

“Wow, Herms! You scored a wicked spot!” Harry exclaimed. It was true. Hermione had gotten a seat quite close to the exit of the parking lot. Easy to get out of after school. 

“It shouldn’t matter to you. You’re not getting rides home from me after fall sports start.” Harry shrugged. Nothing new there. 

They walked together into The Hogwarts School at Concord as seniors. They went to their usual spot by a locker alcove near the gym and near a back door. They found Seamus, Lisbeth, Ella, Rosalie, Dean, and Lavender there already. They all had their backs up against freshman lockers, looking absolutely thrilled to be back to school. Ella looked particularly disgruntled.

“What’s eating you, Ells?” Harry asked. He and Ella were cousins. They had known each other forever. 

“Stupid bloody seniors,” Ella muttered under her breath. 

“She made the mistake of coming in the main entrance again,” Rosalie said, smirking. Every year on the first day of school, some senior girls would stand at the main entrance of the school and blow whistles like crazy at all the students who walked in. By junior year, most people learned to avoid that entrance at all costs. Ella hadn’t learned. 

“It’s not even that, though,” Ella said, frustrated. “It’s not fair! I’m the James Bond fan!” The seniors of the Hogwarts class of 2007 had decided to be particularly clever by choosing their theme to be James Bond 007. Since Ella was basically obsessed with James Bond, it bothered her that she couldn’t have this theme for her senior year. “I mean, what the hell are we going to do for 2008?” she demanded of Rosalie. Rosalie shrugged and went back to closing her eyes. 

“I hate walking to school,” Ron said, announcing his and Ginny’s presence. Hogwarts athletic fields were next to the battle field that the Burrow over looked. The Weasley kids had always walked to school across both sets of fields. But, apparently, the battlefield hadn’t been mowed recently because Ron and Ginny appeared to be covered in dew up to their thighs. Harry wasn’t complaining. It gave him an excuse to innocently eye Ginny’s legs. 

“I’m glad that we’re all so happy to be back,” Lavender said, sarcasm dripping off every word. 

“Do we go to home base first?” Dean asked. 

“Where else are we supposed to go? We don’t have our schedules,” Ginny said. Dean shrugged. Things were still a bit awkward between Ginny and Dean, but not as bad as it might have been. They still tried to avoid much more than casual conversation. 

At that moment, a group of senior girls ran by screaming, “SLY SPIES! CLASS OF 2007 RULES!” Ella scowled and flipped them off. 

“Ells, that’s not very nice,” Lisbeth chided her. 

“Fine,” Ella growled. “I bite my thumb at you!” she exclaimed and clamped her right thumb between her teeth. She shot a dirty look at Lisbeth who glared back at her. Ella let her thumb fall from her mouth and folded her arms over her chest, sinking back into the purple locker behind her. 

They all sat in a disgruntled silence for a while. 

“Ells, what- is that- is that Mercutio’s Queen Mab speech on your shirt?” Ginny asked, referring to the white writing on Ella’s black t-shirt. 

“Yeah, so?” Ella asked. Everyone just laughed and rolled their eyes. Ella was known for her odd clothing and her obsession with Shakespeare, They had just never seen her actually _wearing_ a Shakespeare monologue before. 

A few minutes later, the first bell rang, signaling to all the students that they should head to their home bases. At Hogwarts, home bases were formed randomly. There were four home bases in each grade and these four classes were used when the school went on overnight trips or during field day, etc. In each grade, the four classes were the same: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. They were named after the four people who had founded their school, or that’s what the teachers told the students. Most of the students thought that that was all a big joke. Instead of having competition between grades, the school had competition between the four “houses”. It was “healthy rivalry” as their principle, Mr. Dumbledore, said so eloquently. 

Besides Padma and Luna, who were in Ravenclaw, and Rosalie, who was in Slytherin, everyone who had gone to Morse’s Pond a week ago was in Gryffindor. That was one of the reasons that they were all friends. 

Everyone groaned as they got up to head towards their classes. At Hogwarts there were heads of houses who organized the houses, etc. The seniors of each house always had the heads of house for their administrators. So, this year, the senior Gryffindors had Ms. McGonagall for their administrator. As they entered, everyone said, “Good morning, Ms. McGonagall,” and she replied with, “Good morning, (insert name here),” because she knew everyone’s name. She had known them all since they were freshmen. She taught AP and Honors English to seniors. She was one of the toughest teachers in the school, but she was possibly the best teacher in the school. 

A few seconds before the late bell rang, almost everyone had filed into the room and taken seats. Hogwarts was a relatively small high school. There were only about 800 students. Okay, so it was an _extremely_ small high school, especially for a public school. Even so, breaking up each grade into only four home bases made for very uncomfortable home bases, considering the fact that each home base had an average of fifty students in it. Seeing as each classroom had a maximum of forty seats, students often had so sit on the vents, the floor, or on their friends’ desks. This led to a lot of pushing, arguing, side conversations, and uncomfortable students. However, once the late bell rang, the Gryffindor seniors were completely silent. This was because they were all horribly afraid of getting a detention with Mrs. McGonagall, seeing as she usually made kids write essays or clean her entire classroom during detentions. She also would yells at you until your ear drums exploded. 

Hermione and Lavender had made it to class on time to get actual desks. Their other friends all were too late to snag actual seats. As a result, Parvati was sitting on Lavender’s desk, Harry was sitting on Hermione’s desk (much to her chagrin), Ron, Dean, and Neville sat on the air vent, and Seamus was stuck on the floor next to Lavender and Parvati’s desk. Altogether, it was a… _special_ situation. 

“Good morning, class,” Mrs. McGonagall said. 

“Good Morning, Mrs. McGonagall,” everyone chorused back. 

“How were your summers?” Everyone murmured something along the lines of “good” or “fun”. “Good, good,” McGonagall said. “Are you all happy to be seniors?” This time, no one murmured, they cheered. McGonagall showed one of her rare smiles. “I thought so.” She pulled out a piece of paper on a clipboard. “I’m going to take attendance. Please, no side-bar conversations. If you miss your name, even if I know you’re here, I will mark you absent,” she said, glaring at them all sternly. They all stared solemnly back. 

“Alright, here we go,” McGonagall said, sighing. “Melissa Albrecht?”

“Here.”

“Felicity Anderson?”

“Here.”

“Benjamin Asbury?”

“Here.”

This continued for about ten minutes until everyone in the class had been called and it had been determined that Jake Holmes, Jenna Cullen, and Sofia Phillips were absent. 

“Alright now,” McGonagall said sternly, talking over the side-bar conversations that had started up, “I’m going to pass out the yellow cards for your parents to fill out along with some other stuff about Back to School Night and fall sports, et cetera.” She began to pass out the said flyers and papers while everyone continued to chat to their friends about their summer holidays and about ideas for their senior prank and about what fall sports they were going to do. 

“Ya doin’ cross country again, Harry?” a kid named Jared asked. He was a really good runner and wanted to convert everyone over to running on the cross country team, the indoor track team, and the regular track team. He somewhat resented the fact the Harry and Ron were really good runners but didn’t do spring track because of soccer.

“Definitely!” Harry said, slapping his hand in a high-five. At school, almost everyone loved Harry. He was very “popular” simply because he was nice, agreeable, good looking, good at sports and he was very easy going. There were only a few people who hated his guts and most of them were Slytherins. The Gryffindors and the Slytherins had a rivalry that could be traced back generations. 

After McGonagall had passed out the papers, she called the class to attention so that she could hand out their schedules and their locker information. Once they got their schedules, Harry and Ron immediately compared theirs to see what classes they had together. Other than Spanish and art, they had all their classes together. This was partly because they had signed up for exactly the same classes. They had AP Biology with Hermione, but other than that, they had no classes with her because she was taking five AP classes, while Harry and Ron were only taking one AP. But, they had English and Asian Studies with Dean and Calculus with Seamus. Others of their friends were scattered throughout their classes, which made for many high-fives and some ass-slaps all around their little area of friendship. 

Harry and Ron, along with a lot of other seniors, had opted for a free study-hall period. This privilege was granted only to seniors. However, there was a policy saying that students couldn’t leave campus during their study-hall period. But, the school security guards, Mr. Filch and Mrs. Norris, while being very strict if they caught you breaking the rules, weren’t the most diligent of security guards and they could not really enforce this policy. So, many seniors left campus during their free period. Also, only seniors were allowed to leave campus during lunch, but there had been several successful attempts to smuggle younger students out of school during lunch for precisely the same reason; Filch and Norris were incapable of keeping the students inside the school. However, Dumbledore was too fond of them to fire them and the students certainly weren’t complaining. 

The bell rang signaling first period and Harry, Dean and Ron headed towards Asian Studies with Mrs. Edwards. 

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Ginny walked to her first period class with Lisbeth, who also had AP English first. They chatted merrily about the upcoming school year and all of the amazing things they were planning on doing, one of which was to get boyfriends. They briefly stopped on their way to the English hallway when they ran into Rosalie. The three girls compared schedules and it was deduced that neither Ginny nor Lisbeth had any classes with Rosalie (‘That’s only because you’re taking double Molecular Biology, Rose!’). Then, Ginny and Lisbeth bid Rosalie farewell and continued on to Mrs. Goodwin’s class. 

The rest of the morning progressed rather normally until it was time for lunch. Ginny hurried from her fourth period, Calculus, to her new locker, jamming her new textbooks into her locker before walking towards where she and her friends normally sat. However, she was met by only Lisbeth, Ella, Rosalie, and Luna because all of their senior friends were taking advantage of their new privilege of being able to go off campus for lunch. They reached an agreement that their lunch spot would be incredibly boring and empty without the others. So, they decided to go sit with their other friends, Colin, John, Melissa, and Jennifer. 

They were warmly welcomed by their fellow juniors and immediately launched into comfortable conversations, deciding they would pummel their senior friends later. Ginny was asked by Melissa and Jen what had become of her and Dean and had to explain that they had broken up. “So, have you got your eyes on anyone else?” Melissa asked, grinning at Ginny. 

“Not really…” Ginny said, uncomfortable with the lie. 

“Because, you know that you could get any guy in this school,” Jen said, winking at her.

“What _are_ you talking about?”

“Oh come on, Ginny! You’re drop-dead gorgeous, smart, nice, funny… You have every guy who sees you drooling after you…”

“Oh, shut up, Mel!” Ginny said, blushing madly. Melissa obliged, but not after she had sent Ginny a meaningful look. _I only wish you were right…_ Ginny thought dejectedly.

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“So,” said Hermione as she drove with Ginny back to the Burrow after school, “How was your first day of junior year?” Harry and Ron were at cross-country practice and would walk home after school through the fields, much to Ron’s chagrin. Hermione and Harry usually stayed at the Burrow after school and would often stay for dinner (Harry did more often than Hermione), which was fine with Mrs. Weasley. She loved Harry and Hermione as if they were her own children. If Sirius wasn’t out with Jess, he usually joined them, being a friend of the Weasleys. It was a routine that they had all grown accustomed to over the past eleven or so years. 

“It was… fine,” Ginny said. It really had been great. She had a wonderful English teacher and a pretty good History teacher. Her Drama class was fun, as always, and everything else was… well, everything else. “How does it feel to be a senior?” she asked, grinning at Hermione.

“Honestly, no different. But, I’m taking some wonderfully interesting classes. I can’t wait to see what literature we’ll be reading for McGonagall and I’m extremely interested in AP Euro…” And with that, Hermione was off, telling Ginny how much she hoped to learn this year and how wonderfully brilliant her teachers were. Ginny listened politely until they reached the Burrow. Then, both girls proceeded to climb out of the car and walk into the Weasley’s kitchen through the back door. Mrs. Weasley was sitting in the kitchen reading a book. She looked up when both girls entered and immediately bombarded them with questions. They answered all of them over a cup of tea and the freshly baked cookies Mrs. Weasley had out for them. 

After this, they begrudgingly started on their homework, which was fortunately very light, considering it was the first day of school, allowing Hermione and Ginny to be finished by the time Ron and Harry got home, covered in sweat and still wearing their stinking running clothes (‘You couldn’t have changed before you got home, Ronald?’). So, the girls went up to Ginny’s room to discuss… things while the boys went to Ron’s room to “do their homework”. 

At around 6:00, the high-schoolers heard Mrs. Weasley talking over the phone to Sirius and it appeared that he was also coming for dinner. At 6:15, they hear Mr. Weasley come in, at 6:25, Sirius came in, and at 6:30, Mrs. Weasley was calling them down for dinner. It was like clock-work.

They all enjoyed a wonderful dinner of chicken and green beans, potatoes and wonderful home-made gravy. After they had all finished, Sirius and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley stayed at the table to talk about this and that and drink wine while Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny crowded into the living room to fight over which TV show to watch. At around 9:00, Hermione left, saying goodbye mournfully to Ginny. It was another hour before Harry and Sirius left. 

“So, Harry, how’s senior year so far?” Sirius asked as they drove home. 

“It’s pretty wicked, actually,” Harry said, grinning at his godfather. Sirius grinned back.

“I remember when we were seniors,” Sirius said, his eyes misting over with memories. Sirius had been one of Harry’s father’s, James’s, best friends in high school, along with Remus Lupin, who was also friends with the Weasleys, and Peter Pettigrew who had disappeared. Together, they had been the biggest group that Hogwarts had ever seen. Harry smiled at Sirius’s reminiscing. He loved it when Sirius told him about his parents. 

But, Sirius was so caught up in his memories that he almost hit a car in the other lane. “Sirius, watch the road!” Harry exclaimed as soon as he had regained his breath. 

“Sorry, I just got so caught up in the memories…” Sirius said, shooting Harry a sheepish look. 

“It’s ok… just don’t get us killed,” Harry said. He couldn’t help grinning back. “So, Sirius,” Harry said, “What were you talking to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley about for so long tonight?” he asked, shooting Sirius a questioning look. 

“Well, Harry… You see, I’m getting married.”

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_NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!  Sirius is taken!!!!!!!!!!! Grrrrrrr!!!!  Just kidding…haha!  Anyway…thanks for all who reviewed!  I hope you liked this chapter!_

_Next chapter:_

_How will Harry react to the new?_

_When will relationships start to form?_

_Sorry about the dullness of this chapter…I had to get them started at school and all… yeah…_

_Thanks again to my beta,_ corned-beef-famine _!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_

_YOU ROCK LISSIE!!!  I’M SO GLAD YOU’RE BACK FROM SPAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_

 

_Peace, love, and Will Turner,_

_Jess_          __


	4. Have a Nice Day

**Disclaimer:** *rolls eyes* I thought that we had already established that I don’t own anything…  I don’t even own this computer… *tear*

** Senior Year **

** **

**Chapter Four: Have a Nice Day**

_“Well, Harry… You see, I’m getting married.”_

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“I still don’t understand why she said yes…” It was ten minutes later and Harry and Sirius were entering their kitchen after coming home from the Weasleys. As soon as Sirius had told Harry his news, Harry and congratulated his godfather profusely. But, after the first strings of “Congratulations!” and “That’s wonderful!”, Harry had taken to teasing his godfather. It was more fun that way.

“Oh, shut up, Potter!” Sirius said, grabbing a glass from the cabinet and walking over to the sink to fill it up with water. Harry just continued to chuckle as he sat down at their kitchen table after throwing his backpack unceremoniously into the next room.

“So, this means two weddings in the near future, huh? And both best men are grooms…. Ahahahah!” Harry said, ending it with a laugh. 

“Oh yeah… Remmy is getting married too…” Sirius did not look the least bit sheepish that he had forgotten that his best friend was getting married. 

Godfather and godson sat at their kitchen table in a comfortable silence, both with slight smiled on their faces. A cloud moved aside so that moonlight slunk through the large window above the sink. Both stirred, as if awakened by the sudden presence of light. 

“Well, I’m up to take a shower and then go to bed, OK?” Harry said, standing up and starting to walk towards the stairs. Sirius snorted. “I never said I was going to _sleep_ ,” Harry said, smiling roguishly. 

Sirius returned the smile and then said, “G’night, Harry,” before sinking back into the trancelike pose he had been in before. Harry knew that his godfather was thinking of his best friend who wouldn’t be at his wedding.

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“GOOOOOOOOOOOOD morning, Hogwarts student and staff! Today is Thursday, September 21 and these are your morning announcements!” Dean’s voice echoed through the school as the students of Hogwarts listened in their fourth period classes. “I’m Dean Thomas…”

“And I’m Seamus Finnigan…”

“And we’re your Hogwarts Heralds!” Harry and Ron could contain their laughter no longer. They started laughing so hard that they almost fell out of their chairs. Dean and Seamus were hilarious when they wanted to be. Their Bio teacher, Mr. Slughorn, chortled good-naturedly along with the rest of the class and Hermione glared at them until they managed to get back into their seats. 

“Don’t forget, folks…”

“Homecoming is coming up in a little more that two weeks!”

“So, be sure to buy tickets to the football game…”

“As well as to the dance! Also, be a good member of your house and…”

“Help your house decorate its Homecoming Hall! Best Homecoming Hall gets…”

“500 points, so help your house get an early jump on the house championship!”

“What my partner, Mr. Finnigan, really means is everyone other than Gryffindor House should go stuff themselves because GRYFFINDOR’S GONNA WIN!!!!!!!” There were deafening screeches over the loud speaker as Dean and Seamus cheered. The Gryffindors in the fourth period AP Bio class cheered as well and cheers could be heard up and down the hallway. 

“Finnigan! Thomas! Control yourselves!” Ms. McGonagall’s strict voice could be heard over the loud speaker. 

“Sorry, Ms. McGonagall,” the two boys said together, before continuing. 

“Anyway, any Ravenclaws wishing to help should go to Ms. Sprout’s room on today at lunch…”

“Any Hufflepuffs wishing to help should go to Mr. Flitwick’s room next Tuesday at lunch…”

“Any Gryffindors wishing to help should go to our lovely-“

“Finnigan!”

“Jeez! You try to give the woman a compliment and… Sorry, Ms. McGonagall… Any Gryffindors wishing to help should go to Ms. McGonagall’s room tomorrow, Friday, at lunch…”

“And we won’t tell you where the Slytherins-“

“Thomas!”

“I mean… Any Slytherins wishing to help should go to the room filled with slime… Sorry, Ms. McGonagall… I mean, Mr. Snape’s room on Monday at lunch. Just don’t bring any soap or he won’t let you in- ouch!” Dean’s voice was lost amidst shouts of “Thomas! I will kick you off this show!” 

“Bio club is meeting today at lunch in room 154 and those interested in joining Model United Nations should come today at lunch to room 236!” Seamus’s voice could just barely be heard over what sounded like Ms. McGonagall beating Dean up. “Please rise for the pledge to our flag. Ms. McGonagall, everyone has to rise, even Dean- ouch! OK, Dean’s an exception… I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all. You may now be seated. These were your morning announcements! I’m Seamus Finnigan… and the boy who’s about to be castrated is Dean Thomas… Have a nice day!” Everyone was laughing so hard that they fell off their lab stools. The bell rang shortly after and everyone rushed for the door. 

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“So, Homecoming’s coming up…” Ron said as he, Harry, and Hermione drove to lunch. 

“Yup,” Harry said, not really paying attention. 

“So, what are we gonna do this year?”

“I don’t know…”

“Gee, you’re a lot of help, Harry…”

“Sorry…”

“What do you think, Hermione?”

“Hmm?” 

“What should we do for Homecoming?”

“Go out to dinner, I suppose.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know, Ronald.”

“Geez, don’t bite off my head for asking a simple question…”

“Oh no,” Harry managed to mutter before Hermione and Ron went into full on bicker mode. While Harry’s lunch was highly unpleasant, Ron and Hermione enjoyed themselves immensely. 

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Ginny wound her way through the hallways on her way to Earth Studies, still talking with Lisbeth and Ella who were a few steps behind her. They got out of a particularly tough spot in the hallways and took a quick breather before starting towards the science hallway again. From behind her, Ginny heard a distinctly male voice call out to her. She spun around to see Nicolas Banner, a boy from her year who was in Ravenclaw House. She told Ella and Lisbeth that she’d see them in class and waited for Nick to catch up with her. 

“Hey, Ginny,” he said, smiling at her. 

“Hey, Nick,” Ginny said, smiling back. She and Nick had been lab partners in Biology the year before and had become friends. She liked Nick well enough, he was just a bit pompous sometimes. “What’s up?”

“Look, I know that this is a weird time to ask, but I saw you and I knew that if I didn’t ask you now, I would never ask you and I was just wondering if you’d like to go to Homecoming with me?” Nick said all this in a rush so that it took Ginny a while to fully understand what he was asking. Then, once she realized what he wanted, she was extremely confused. No one got dates to go to Homecoming, unless they were already going out. Everyone just went with their friends. Why was he asking her to go with him? 

“Nick, it’s really sweet of you to ask, but I was planning on going with my friends. I’m sorry,” she finished pathetically. She really did fell bad, though. Nick was a nice guy. 

“Well, will you save a dance for me?” he asked, giving her an attractive smile.

“Sure,” Ginny said before she could stop herself. 

“Cool! See you around,” Nick said, before he rushed off to his next class. 

Ginny walked the rest of the way to Earth Studies and made it inside right before the bell rang. Mrs. Alexander glared at her as she walked the rest of the way to her seat next to Lisbeth, who was behind Ella. 

Mrs. Alexander started her lecture and Ginny pulled out her notebook so that she could take notes. As she wrote about the eco system in a coral reef, she felt eyes on her and she looked up to see Ella looking at her. “What?” she whispered.

“What did pretty boy want?”

“He asked me to go to Homecoming with him.”

“What?!” Ella said this out loud, causing Mrs. Alexander to glare at her. 

“Is there something you’d like to share with the class, Miss Medalis?” Mrs. Alexander asked, daring Ella to speak again. 

“No,” Ella said, smiling sweetly at the teacher. Mrs. Alexander simply rolled her eyes and resumed lecturing. “Who asks somebody to Homecoming?” Ella demanded of Ginny as soon as Mrs. Alexander looked the other way. 

“I don’t know,” Ginny said, slightly exasperated.

“What did you say?”

“I told him I was planning on going with you guys, but then I promised to save him a dance.”

“What? Why?”

“Because…” Ginny searched for the reason she had said yes.

“Because you’re too nice for your own good,” Ella said, interrupting her. 

Ginny rolled her eyes. “Not everyone can be as cold and uncaring as you, Ella.”

Ella ignored her. “I thought you liked Harry?” Ella demanded, making Ginny wince. “Oh, Ginny! Nobody heard me!”

“I do.”

“You do know that you just gave Nick hope. He thinks that this means that you’re open to going out with him which… is…” Ella trailed off. This made Ginny nervous, for Ella had her scheming look on her face. 

“Ella? What? What is it?” 

“Brilliant. It’s brilliant. Going out with him will make Harry jealous! This is brilliant! I’m so excited!” Ella finished before turning back around in her seat. 

“Ella, what are you talking about?” Ginny demanded. Ella ignored her. “Ella? Ella!” 

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Harry and Ron came in through the side door into the Burrow’s kitchen. They were exhausted from practice and not at all in the mood to do their homework. They threw their bags haphazardly onto the floor and were just about to collapse onto the kitchen table when Hermione came rushing in. “I need to talk to you, Harry.” Her voice was an urgent whisper. 

“Hermione, can’t it wait? I’m exhausted!” Harry complained.

“No, it can’t wait! Come here, Harry!” she insisted, dragging him into the next room. As they disappeared around the corner, Ron simply shrugged and sat down, laying his head onto the scrubbed wooden surface of the table. 

“What do you want, Hermione?” Harry asked grumpily as she forced him to look at her. He managed to miss the panic in her eyes. 

“Harry, you need to get a move on!” she said, emphasizing her point by shaking his shoulders.

“Hermione, what the hell are you talking about?” Harry asked, slightly annoyed.

“Ginny got asked out today! You _need_ to get a move on!”

“ _What_?”

“Ginny got asked out today!”

“Really?”

“ _Yes_ , Harry!”

“Fuck.”

“Yup.” 

“What am I going to do?”

“Well, she still really likes you, but now she’s considering going out with this guys because she thinks that you don’t like her back. So, you need to make your feeling clear.”

“Wait, she likes me?”

Hermione froze. Whoops. She wasn’t supposed to have said that. Shit. “Er, year. But, don’t tell her that I told you. She’ll kill me.”

“Fine. But, she likes me? Really?”

“ _Yes_ , really, Harry! Honestly! I don’t see how you could miss it! You two are both so thick!” Harry snorted. He knew two other people who liked each other who were being thick about it.

“But… Are you sure?” Harry was still uncertain. He always thought that Ginny had grown out of her crush on Harry and just saw him as another one of her annoying older brothers.

“Yes, Harry, really! I have to go finish my AP Euro essay, I’ll see you later, ok?” 

“Ok. Thanks, Hermione.”

“No problem. Go do your homework.” Harry groaned. As she went out the door, Harry sank into on of the worn arm chairs in the Weasley’s living room, contemplating what Hermione had just told him. He heard a “Ronald!” from the kitchen shortly followed by a grunt and a “Wh-wh-whassamatta?” “Do your homework, Ronald!” “Yeah, sure, whatever, Hermione….” “Don’t go back to sleep!” “Ow! Ok, I’m up, I’m up!” Harry chuckled and went into the kitchen to start his homework with Ron. He’d think about the Ginny situation later. 

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_Chapter Four is up!!!  Yay!!!  I think that this fic is going pretty well… What do you guys think??_

_Once again, thanks to my beta, Lissy!!  I lurve you!!!_

_Please Review!!!  Reviews are magical!!_

_Jess_

 


	5. Those Bums!

**Disclaimer:** Nope.

 

** Senior Year **

** **

**Chapter Five: Those Bums!**

            Beep.  Beep.

 

            What was that annoying noise?  It was bothering Ginny.  Ginny didn’t want to be bothered.  See, she was hiding beneath her warm covers in her rather large bed in her rather comfortably warm room.  Especially considering that it was rather cool outside.  Even for Massachusetts in September.  

 

            Beep.  Beep.

 

            There it was again.  What was that?  Didn’t it know that it was Saturday morning?  Saturday mornings meant sleeping until 11 o’clock at the earliest.  

 

            Beep.  Beep.

 

            There it was again.  Ginny considered sitting up, if only so that she could reach her softball bat and whack whatever was responsible for the beeping noise.  

 

            Beep.  Beep.

 

            Wait.  Saturday?  Wasn’t she supposed to do something on Saturday?

 

            Beep.  Beep.

 

            Ummm….  Oh shit.  This was going to come back and bite her later.  She should get up and see what it was she was supposed to be doing.  But, the bed was so incredibly comfortable and if the air that was caressing her face was any indication, it was rather cold outside of her warm bed.  

 

            Beep.  Beep. 

 

            “Ah, screw it,” Ginny said before leaping out of her bed and slamming her hand down on her alarm clock.  It read 8:30.  Ginny screamed.

 

            “What the _hell_?!” Ron asked, running into her room and standing in front of her in his boxers, toothbrush in hand and toothpaste around his mouth making him look like he had rabies.  

 

            “Aren’t you cold?” Ginny asked her brother.

 

            “No.  Why the hell did you scream?”

 

            “It’s 8:30 in the morning.”

 

            “So?”

 

            “ _So_ , why is my alarm clock ringing at 8:30 in the bloody morning?!”

 

            “We’re going into Boston today to see the first game of the Sox double header.”

 

            “Oh yeah.”

 

            “You look like you have rabies.”

 

            “Thanks,” he said, smiling at her.  It looked rather horrific.

 

            “Bye.”

 

            “Bye.”

 

            Ron resumed brushing his teeth and walked back out of her room.  Ginny shut the door after he had gone out.  She went to her closet and pulled out a Red Sox shirt, a pair of jeans, a bra, and underwear.  She grabbed her towel and walked across the hall into the bathroom.  She used to have to share her bathroom with at least one of her numerous brothers, but since she and Ron were the only kids at home now, they each got their own bathrooms.  Ginny started the shower going and stripped down before getting under the jet of hot water. 

 

            Twenty minutes later, Ginny and Ron were downstairs at the kitchen table eating their breakfast of bacon, eggs, and pancakes.  Hermione and Harry walked through the door, each wearing Red Sox paraphernalia.  They both sat at the scrubbed wooden table as well and helped themselves to Mrs. Weasley’s breakfast.  The kitchen was silent as the four teenagers chowed down.  At 9:30, Mrs. Weasley came into the kitchen freshly dressed and cleared their plates (“Hey, Mum!  I wasn’t done with that!”  “You’ve had quite enough to eat Ronald!  Oh, Harry, dear!  Have some more!”  “No thanks, I’m fine Mrs. Weasley.”)  After all the dishes had been cleared, she stood in front of them and they could tell that they were about to get a lecture.

 

            “Now.  Arthur, Sirius, Mr. and Mrs. Granger and I are all giving you a great privilege by letting you all go into Boston today by yourselves and before you leave I want to impress upon you the responsibilities you now carry.”  Across the table, Ginny mouthed at Harry ‘She wrote it down.’  ‘And memorized it,’ he mouthed back.  They both struggled to hold in their giggles.  

 

            Ten minutes, a long lecture, several silent giggles later, the four high schoolers were walking from the Burrow towards the T station in Concord Town Proper.  The purchased two-way tickets and went up to the platform to wait for the T to arrive.  When it came, they hopped on and took seats.  Being a Saturday morning at 9:30, it was not incredibly crowded on the T, allowing the four friends to be able to sit together.  

 

            “So, where are we going before the game?” Hermione asked, referring to the fact that they would be arriving in Boston around 10:15 but the game wasn’t going to start until 2:30.  

 

            “Lunch,” Ron said simply.

 

            “Ronald!  We just had breakfast and we have about three hours before we even have to _think_ about going to Fenway.”

 

            “Not true.  I think about going to Fenway constantly,” Harry interjected. 

 

            “That’s not all you think about constantly,” Ginny muttered under her breath.

 

            “What was that, Weasley?”

 

            “Oh, come _on_ , Potter!  Everyone knows that you’re a man whore!”

 

            “Yes.  And everyone knows you’re a slut.”

 

            “Ron, Harry’s teasing me.”

 

            “Defend yourself.”

 

            “Some big brother you are!”

 

            “Yeah, Ron!  Stick up for your little sister!”

 

            “Ow!  Sorry Hermione!”

 

            “Don’t apologize to me!”

 

            “Oh!  Right!  Sorry, Ginny!”

 

            “You’re impossible.”

 

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            Three hours, much aimless wandering, and much more bickering later, the four teenagers found themselves walking towards the large Citgo sign near Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox.  About five blocks away from the park, they got swept up into a crowd of fellow Red Sox fans and were carried on this tide towards the park.   They passed countless street vendors offering soda and peanuts for prices far less than the prices in the park.  But, only ignorant people bought stuff outside the park, because you weren’t allowed to bring outside food or drink into the park.  Once they got closer, it seemed that they were in a sea of red and blue shirts.  It was chaotic and noisy.  There was a band playing and smoke was hovering of the ocean of people from the grills on which people were roasting hot dogs.  Just looking at all the fans there, it was impossible to tell what team the Red Sox were playing, but many of the fans knew that the other team was in fact another Sox team, the Chicago White Sox.

 

            The four friends continued their way toward the entrance to the park, avoiding people selling programs and dodging scalpers offering tickets for five times their original price.  When the entrance was in sight, they pulled out their tickets and made a beeline for the ticket checkers.  

 

            As they handed their tickets to the woman, she scanned them and then laughed.  “You guys are _way_ up there,” she said, amused.  They scowled at her and continued into the park.  As soon as they entered, the smells of hotdogs and sodas and grill smoke and cigarette smoke and beer accosted their nostrils, causing their eyes to water a bit.  The looked at their seat numbers on their tickets and then at the signs that told them which seats were directly in front of them and groaned.  They made their way towards to escalator that would bring them up several levels.  

 

            About fifteen minutes later, they were climbing up to their seats that were way up high behind left field.  As they sat down, Ron let out a curse.  

 

            “What’s the matter?” Harry asked. 

 

            “Stupid fucking pole’s directly in my way,” Ron grumbled gesturing towards a large pole that was situated directly in front of his seat.  Harry laughed at his friend and Ron smacked him upside the head.  

 

            “Ron, if you want to switch, I don’t mind.  You’ll enjoy the game much more anyway,” Hermione said, getting out of her seat between Ginny and Harry.

 

            “Nah, it’s OK, Hermione.  Thanks, though,” Ginny and Harry could tell that it took a lot of effort for Ron to refuse and they were quite impressed.  He even tried to smile after he said it.

 

            “Oh, don’t be a martyr, Ronald!  You’ll be miserable the whole game!  Just take my seat!” Hermione said, flipping her hair angrily.

 

            “I’m not being a martyr!” Ron said indignantly.  “Hermione, I want you to be able to enjoy the game.  I’ve been to way more baseball games than you.  It’s not a big deal if one of them isn’t so great.”  Hermione’s eyes softened when she realized that Ron really did want her to enjoy the game.  

 

            “But, I really don’t mind.”

 

            “Neither do I.”

 

            Hermione walked past Harry and Ginny and pushed Ron towards her seat.  “Just take it, you stubborn ass!”  Harry and Ginny laughed at the shocked expression on Ron’s face as he sat down.  

 

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            “Those stupid bums!” Ron said angrily, three hours later as they walked toward the T station from the park.  “How could they loose _again_?  I mean, we all know they’re not going to the playoffs, but still!”  

 

            “I know, mate.  It’s fucked up,” Harry agreed.  The two boys continued to complain about their beloved team as Hermione and Ginny discussed a multitude of other things, including Ginny’s upcoming date.

 

            “So, what’s the deal?” Hermione asked eagerly.

 

            “Nothing.”

 

            “What do you mean _nothing_?”

 

            “Nothing.  I don’t like him like that.  You know very well that I’m harboring feelings for someone else.”  Hermione blushed with guilt at this.  Luckily, Ginny didn’t seem to notice.  “But, really!  What was I supposed to do?  Say, ‘No thanks.  You’re really nice and all, but I’m in love with the same guy that I’ve been in love with since I was eleven and there’s no chance that he’ll ever think of me as more than a sister, but I’m still holding onto that sparse bit of hope that comes from the sparkle that’s in his beautiful green eyes when he looks at me.’”  Ginny finished pitifully, staring at the back of Harry’s head, a deep longing evident in her chocolate brown eyes.  

 

            “Well, I wouldn’t have said just that, but the kid’s got a major crush on you and he thinks you’re giving him a chance.  He thinks this might lead to something,” Hermione argued.  “It’s like you’re leading him on.  Using him.”

 

            “That’s what Ella thought.  She thought I should use Nick to make Harry jealous.  The sad thing is, I’m not entirely sure that that’s not true…”  Ginny looked utterly disgusted in herself for revealing this fact and looked at the older girl next to her for guidance.

 

            “You want _me_ to help?  Honey, you _do_ realize that you’re talking to the girl who has been in love with your brother since middle school and still hasn’t managed to tell him.”  Hermione pulled a face.  Ginny laughed.  

 

            “I don’t know why, either, seeing as he’s so obviously smitten with you,” Ginny giggled.  Then, she clamped her mouth shut in horror.  Her brother was going to kill her.

 

            “Oh, I don’t think so… Why?  Has he said anything?” Hermione asked, eying her friend.

 

            “Erm…” Ginny said, backing away from her friend who looked very much like a vulture at the moment.

 

            “Ginny…”

 

            “Hey, girls!  You coming?” Ron shouted back at them.  With a start, both girls realized that they had arrived at the T station.  Ginny blew out a sigh of relief and ran to catch up with her brother and Harry.  Hermione followed, knowing that she’d talk to Ginny later.  

 

            On the walk home from the T stop in Concord, the four friends joked about school and people and life in general.  They discussed the three weddings that would be coming up that they would all be invited to and happily contemplated the upcoming long weekend because of a professional day.  Their joy was broken when Hermione managed to remind them that the professional day was for interims, but they quickly went back to their cheery talk as they walked down the long driveway that led to the Burrow.  

 

            When they got to the Burrow, the entered through the kitchen door to find cookies on the table and Mrs. Weasley knitting what appeared to be one of the traditional sweaters that she gave everyone for Christmas.  “Hi kids.  Sorry about the game,” she said, looking at Ron whose eyes had instantly darkened when his mother mentioned the events of the afternoon.

 

            “It’s OK, Mrs. Weasley.  It was still fun,” Harry said, smiling in a bit of a forced way as Ginny, Hermione, and Ron each took a cookie.  Harry took one too.  

 

            “I’m glad.  No trouble?” Mrs. Weasley asked, pretending to be casual about it, but all four could tell she had been nervous about them all day.  

 

            “None, Mrs. Weasley,” Hermione said reassuringly and Mrs. Weasley smiled at her.  

 

            Just then, Ginny cell phone rang and she excused herself to answer it.  She came back a few minutes later and whispered something to Hermione.  Hermione smiled and nodded.  “Mum?” Ginny said.

 

            “Yes?”

 

            “Is it OK if Hermione and I go out tonight with the girls?”

 

            “Which girls?”

 

            “Erm… Ella, Lissy, Rose, Luna, Lavender, and the Patil twins.”

 

            “Oh.  Alright then.  Where are you all going?”

 

            “Dinner.  Then to perhaps to a movie?” Ginny said.  Hermione and Ginny both looked imploringly at Mrs. Weasley.

 

            “Sure.  Will you be driving, Hermione, dear?”  Hermione nodded.  “Alright.  Be home by 11:30.”

 

            “Oh, Mom!  That’s so early,” Ginny complained.

 

            “ _That’s_ your curfew.”  Mrs. Weasley wasn’t going to budge on this.  

 

            “Alright.  We’ll see you at 11:30, Mrs. Weasley,” Hermione said, walked towards the door after grabbing her bag.  Ginny followed suit.  Before they were out of earshot, they heard Mrs. Weasley ask the boys if they were going out and their muffled reply (obviously coming from the family room with the T.V.) that they didn’t think so.  The two girls climbed into Hermione’s car drove off towards town to meet their friends for dinner. 

 

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            Hermione and Ginny pulled into the parking lot in front of Minute Man National Park, having stopped at the grocery store to pick up their share of food.  They had been meeting here with their friends for late night picnics for about three years.  Each person had something that they were supposed to pick up from the store so that when brought together, they would make up a feast.  Technically, the park was supposed to close at sundown, but the girls knew a secret way in.  They had never gotten caught before and they didn’t really see the harm, seeing as they weren’t destroying the historical landmarks or anything.  They just had a good time and told each other things that they’d never admit in the real world.  The park after dark was like their own special world and they all loved the sanctuary it offered.  

 

            Hermione and Ginny walked down the dusty path beneath the trees, shivering slightly from the cool shade.  Their faces were dappled with moon light, for there was an almost-full moon that night.  They walked until they reached a concealed turn off the path.  The turn off led to a less used path that was barely beaten down that the girls had actually created themselves and this path led to a rather large clearing in which there were a couple of large boulders and some hollowed out logs.  There, they found their friends waiting for them.  Ella and Rose were starting a fire in the little fire-place thing that they had created a year ago when they had all decided they needed some form of heat other than the large blankets that Luna brought for them.  Parvati, Padma, and Lavender were laying out all the food as Lissy and Luna dragged the boulders and logs closer to the fire, placing blankets and cushions on them.  Hermione and Ginny walked in and were greeted by their friends.  They set their food down net to Parvati and Ginny went to help Ella and Rose as Hermione went to help Lissy and Luna.  

 

            About ten minutes later, they had all gotten large plate fulls of the junk food that they had all brought.  Their meals consisted of raw cookie dough, cheetos, corn chips, kettle corn, fudge-cicles, and carrots, seeing as Hermione insisted on something healthy.  To drink, they had root beer and diet coke.   They sometimes tried to bring beer to drink together, seeingas they all knew they were safe and could walk home if need be, but they had not been successful this time.  It wasn’t a big deal.  They didn’t need alcohol to have a good time.  Ella pulled out her battery-run iPod speakers and her iPod and she started to play some music.  They girls cheered and clinked their drinks together before settling into a circle around the small fire.

 

            “So, how was the game?” Ella asked eagerly of Ginny and Hermione.  Ella was one of the biggest Red Sox fans they knew.  

 

            “It was fun.  But, they lost,” Ginny said, knowing full well that Ella would know that.

 

            “I know _that_.  Did anything… _interesting_ happen?” she asked mischievously.

 

            “No.”

 

            “Oh.  You’re no fun.”

 

            “Thanks.”

 

            “You’re quite welcome.”

 

            Ginny and Ella bit their thumbs at each other and then burst into giggles.  Their friends rolled their eyes.

 

            “Actually,” Hermione said, “something interesting _did_ happen to us…”

 

            “Ginny!  How could you lie to me?” Ella asked dramatically, pressing her hands to her heart.  Ginny rolled her eyes at her friend’s antics.

 

            “What happened?” Parvati asked.

 

            “Well, we were waiting for the guys to go to the bathroom after the game because both of them drink a lot of soda whenever they’re nervous and they were pretty jittery from about the fifth inning onwards because the Sox were losing so badly.  So, we were waiting outside the bathroom and these three guys came up to us…”

 

            “Guys?” Ginny cut in.  “They were more like boys.  They were about thirteen years old, Hermione.”

 

            “Yeah.  And they were obviously doing this on a dare, or something…  Anyway, they started trying to flirt with us and stuff.  It was actually quite hilarious.”

 

            “Yeah.  Hermione was all nice, making them think they actually had a chance, and I was just kinda standing there, looking menacing and glaring at them.”

 

            “Yeah. Ginny really freaked them out.  She’d grunt out a few words every now and then.  Soon enough, they left though.”

 

            Ginny snorted.  “They left because Ron and Harry came out of the bathroom and we told them that they were our boyfriends and Ron and Harry look pretty intimidating when you’re that close to the ground.”  Ella and Rose laughed.  

 

            “You told them they were your boyfriends?” Padma asked, smiling mischievously. 

 

            “Yes.  Just because we wanted to see the looks on their faces.”

 

            “Uh huh.  I’m _sure_ that’s the only reason you said it.”

 

            “Shut up Lavender.”

 

            “Make me.”

 

            “Ok.”

 

            “AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!  Ginny!!  Get off!!”

 

            “Say uncle!”

 

            “No!”

 

            “Alright then.”  Ginny proceeded to tickle her friend harder.  Lavender laughed and kept begging Ginny to get off and asked several people to help.  But, no one was in fit shape to help, seeing as they were all on the ground laughing.  Finally, Lavender yelled out uncle and Ginny got off of her, smirking.  Lavender scowled at her friends and told them all off for being such bitches.  They just continued to laugh.  

 

            Once everyone had calmed down, Lisbeth asked what they were all doing the next day.  They all said variations of homework and Hermione grumbled about college applications she had to do.  

 

            The girls finished their feast and then Ginny pulled out her cell phone, flipping it open.  “Shit!”

 

            “What?”

 

            “It’s 11:25!”

 

            “Shit!”

 

            “We have to go guys, sorry,” Ginny said as she and Hermione got up, taking their trash and waving goodbye to everyone.  Everyone waved goodbye too, deciding they should all be getting home anyway.  Ginny and Hermione sprinted to the parking lot and threw their trash into the trash can before climbing hurriedly into Hermione’s car and rushing off towards the Burrow. 

            

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

 

            Ginny and Hermione got back to the Burrow at 11:30 exactly.  They smiled at each other before getting out of Hermione’s car and walking leisurely back towards the Burrow.  As expected, Mrs. Weasley was sitting at the kitchen table, waiting for them.  She was wearing her dressing gown and looked rather tired.  She greeted warmly before bidding them goodnight and walking tiredly up to bed.  Hermione and Ginny walked into the family room and were greeted by Harry and Ron who were playing some random game that involved racing cars and lots of shouting from both boys.  Ginny sat down next to Harry and Hermione walked up and turned off the T.V., much to Harry and Ron’s chagrin.  

 

            After a bit of bickering, Hermione let them finish their round and then they turned it off and the four friends settled into the couches to talk. 

 

            “How was dinner?” Harry asked, smirking at Hermione.

 

            “It was fine.  And yes, it was just dinner,” Hermione said hotly, rolling her eyes at Harry’s immaturity.  

 

            “Sure it was…” Harry said under his breath.

 

            “What was that, Potter?” Hermione all but growled.

 

            “Nothing.”

 

            “You bet it’s nothing.”

 

            “Any new news with the girls?” 

 

            “Ella’s having everyone over after homecoming, if they want to come,” Ginny said.

 

            “Her dad’s OK with that?” Ron asked.

 

            “Her dad _would_ be OK with that,” Harry said.  

 

            “Why?”

 

            “He’s the most easy going parent I’ve ever met,” Harry said of his uncle.

 

            “What about Sirius?”

 

            “Sirius isn’t a parent.”

 

            “Why is Mr. Tamaris so easy going?” Ron asked.

 

            “Well, he’s raised five kids already and then there are three more after Ella.  He’s a single dad, so he can’t really be strict with nine kids, especially since he works and all.  Plus, because he lets his kids… do stuff, they’re not as tempted to experiment, because they don’t get the rush of breaking the rules.  He always joke with us, though, that if we ever get him caught, he’s going to become the most strict parent we’ve ever seen, and we know he’s capable of doing that, so we never get him caught,” Harry explained about his uncle.  

 

            Ron chuckled at his friend’s explanation.  The four friends continued talking until about two in the morning, when Hermione and Ginny went up to Ginny’s room, while Ron and Harry went into Ron’s room.  

 

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_Yay!!!  Finally a new chapter!!!!  Very exciting!!!  I hope everyone like it well enough!!!_

_How ‘bout dem Red Sox?!?!?!?!  Yeah, BABY!!!!!_

_Thanks to my beta, Lissy!!!_

_By the way, the encounter with the three guys, it’s a true story.  My friends and I (Lissy included) were waiting for my mom to pick us up after dinner before homecoming last night and these three guys came up to us and started talking to us about this really random, really gross stuff…  It was… Interesting…_

_Please read and review!!!  Reviews are what make me update.  Without reviews, I get discouraged and I don’t want to write anymore.  So, PLEASE review!!!_

_  
8-0 Pats, World Series Champion Red Sox, Gay Dumbledore, and my new doggie make my day!_

_Jess_

 


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